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Sun, 06 Oct 2013 20:39:31 +0000en-UShourly1http://wordpress.org/?v=4.0.1Moonchild Reviewhttp://www.gamingismagic.com/?p=1831
http://www.gamingismagic.com/?p=1831#commentsSun, 06 Oct 2013 20:39:31 +0000http://www.gamingismagic.com/?p=1831Moonchild an RPG by Aldorlea Games is about a queen whose daughter is kidnapped. Saving the princess and the world alongside it is the quest. Moonchild is a shorter RPG in comparison to other Aldorlea RPGs. I’m going to keep this review short and give my upsides and downsides to this game with my final scoring.

Good Points:

The dungeon design is great. I loved all of the dungeons in this game. They never felt overly complicated or too straight forward it was a great balance in my opinion. I will admit the end does have one heck of a puzzle, but for being the final dungeon it seems truly fitting.

Avg Points:

The combat was pretty typical and average as far as this genre goes, the only exception was the summons. I admit I really liked the summons and they are what really kept the combat from being boring.

The story is very straight forward and easy to follow. This made the game really good for casual playing without worrying about forgetting what you did or needed to do. Although it wasn’t terribly unique or exciting, outside of the main character being the queen vs some knight.

Bad Points:

The dialog was rather bland. The characters often felt flat and it lacked the humor of other RPGs by Aldorlea Games. The only characters dialog I didn’t find just boring was the queens. The downside was I found the queen to have no real regards for her subjects which is shown immediately in the game. She is also fairly obnoxious and makes rash decisions. I would think as a ruler and star character of the game a little bit of wisdom would be shown.

In the end, I felt this could have been better, but it just ended up average. It might sate your retro RPG fill, but Aldorlea Games has put out better choices.

]]>http://www.gamingismagic.com/?feed=rss2&p=18310Starseed Pilgrim Reviewhttp://www.gamingismagic.com/?p=1781
http://www.gamingismagic.com/?p=1781#commentsMon, 01 Jul 2013 22:00:36 +0000http://www.darkstarmatryx.com/?p=1781Okay, so I fumbled onto Starseed Pilgrim, created by Droqen, on Steam. I thought, that looks neat and picked it up on a whim. I had no clue what I was getting myself into, but man am I glad I got myself into it. Since I first started playing I thought this is so neat, a game that doesn’t tell me what I’m expected to do, only the basic foundation of the gameplay mechanics. It reminded me of the first time I played Minecraft way back in early alpha before the person who got me to play it told me how to build something. I just ran broke and stacked stuff and went, hmm and then wondered what else I could do.

So, here are the basic mechanics in simplest of terms, you learn this in about 2 seconds into the game. You have the directional keys and the space bar for seed usage. Up makes you jump down will break a block below you and the side buttons will make you run to the side or break a block to the side if necessary. Some things might change in some ways but you are meant to figure that out as you come to it.

You get a bunch of seeds and they each work differently as well as interact differently depending on how you use them. Most of them do seem to follow some pattern to their behavior, but on that I say figure it out. That is a big part of the game. Explore, experiment, learn from your actions, and do it again. Everything in the game seems to have a point and that includes the void as well.

I honestly love finding and figuring out new stuff in this game. I am also positive that I am far from truly understanding what is going on or what point it may have. The exploration is grand, the little messages or poetic notes left to discover most likely have some meaning when put together in some proper order. I refuse to go any further into what may be found as the more you know the less enjoyable I feel this game would be.

I do admit I introduced the game to someone else, who seemed less than enthused by the initial learning aspect of the game. They wanted a end goal or direction to head in. As far as end goal goes I couldn’t give one becuase I don’t know what the end is. What I did see was how this game is a good game to pick up play and put down to play again later.

I give Starseed Pilgrim a 4 out of 5, it is good fun if you are willing to let it grow on you.

]]>http://www.gamingismagic.com/?feed=rss2&p=17810It’s Might and Match 3: Clash of Heroeshttp://www.gamingismagic.com/?p=1605
http://www.gamingismagic.com/?p=1605#commentsMon, 22 Apr 2013 23:30:47 +0000http://www.darkstarmatryx.com/?p=1605Might and Magic: Clash of Heroes is as I’m sure you can tell by the title, a match 3 style RPG game. Yep, Ubisoft and Capybara Games took Might and Magic Heroes and made a Match 3 game. So what do I think of it, a fan of the original Might and Magic games. I’ve never played a Heroes game yet. Shh.. I know this isn’t a depiction of that series.

First off, even without touching the multiplayer this game has some real length to it. Seriously, it took me 35 hours to beat it and I missed something somewhere. So I can say I didn’t feel it had too short of a single player campaign. How was the campaign though? I thought it’s story was obvious, as well as childish. It had a very pg sort of feel. It made for a very easy to follow or ignore story. If you missed a scene, I’m pretty sure you’d be able to figure out what happened. The story also is supposed to take place before Heroes of Might & Magic V.

Gameplay was simple enough. It was turn based, so you didn’t have to race against your opponent. I used a controller for during the game and the controls were simple. I’d say that from as few keys that are needed, I’d find it rather hard to believe the controls could ever be considered complicated. You play by making matches of units of 3 for the most part to make walls or attacking units. They need to match in color, not always type since there are special units that will randomly appear with one of the three colors. You make you’re army depending on the character your playing. So one character may use archer’s and another might use ghosts, vampires and zombies, it just depends on which main character you are currently playing as to determine what units you can choose from.

While all characters have similar units for there matches there are differences that make certain characters more appealing to one person than another. It may not be drastic differences, but it’s obvious certain characters with certain artifacts are designed for different play styles or strategies.

It does a nice job of making the game simple enough to appeal to causal match 3 gamers, but has enough to entertain serious puzzle gamers, and strategy gamers especially if you can get a multiplayer match going. I think someone going into it for the RPG aspects would be disappointed though, as that aspect is a bit more lacking.

So what is the verdict? Is it good is it bad? Honestly, I liked it enough to play it for 35 hours. After that I couldn’t play it any more, although I could see going back for mp matches. Even with the predictable storyline and simple play, I think that is part of what makes it all work. It’s fun and you can just play it without worrying about some huge convoluted plot with overly complex controls. Its good for a long play session or just jump in play a little and save and exit to come back to later. Without having to worry about forgetting what is going on.

So give this game a go, I give it a solid 4 out of 5. Oh and take a look around this game is out for a number of systems so it’s bound to be available to you on the platform you prefer.

]]>http://www.gamingismagic.com/?feed=rss2&p=16050Bioshock Infinite’s Number of Reviews Continueshttp://www.gamingismagic.com/?p=1600
http://www.gamingismagic.com/?p=1600#commentsWed, 17 Apr 2013 18:17:35 +0000http://www.darkstarmatryx.com/?p=1600Yep, It’s Bioshock Infinite developed by Irrrational Games and published by 2K Games and I know the question. Why review a game that already has an endless supply of reviews from just about everywhere? Well, because I can and I felt like it. I wanted to at least give my ups and downs to the game, without spoilers for those who have managed to avoid them. I don’t think I need any more reason, so lets move on.

Let’s get on with the positives:
1. Amazing Story
2. Good gameplay
3. Visually Appealling
4. Nice Pacing

So what are the Negatives?
1. Short Campaign about 12 hrs
2. Difficulty level is about the only Replay reason.
3. No Multiplayer

So let’s sum it up, before I rate it. The positives all work together well, to create a game that flows well keeps you entertained and keeps you coming back till you finish it. The negatives are it’s relatively short although I suppose it’s a typical campaigns length these days, but that really stands out more with the general lack or replayability or multiplayer. Sure you can keep playing the harder difficulty, if you really want.

Honestly, this game may not have me playing it over and over like some titles, but I definetly felt it was one of the best games I’ve played in a really long time. I give it a 5 of 5 for that alone.

]]>http://www.gamingismagic.com/?feed=rss2&p=16000Anodyne Reviewhttp://www.gamingismagic.com/?p=1597
http://www.gamingismagic.com/?p=1597#commentsTue, 16 Apr 2013 22:30:14 +0000http://www.darkstarmatryx.com/?p=1597So, I sat down to play Anodyne by Analgesic Productions or Sean Hogan and Jonathan Kittaka . I’ll be honest and say I wasn’t sure what to expect from the game. I thought it was an RPG not an action adventure game in the vain of Legend of Zelda before I started playing.

I felt the gameplay was pretty solid. The graphics were well done for the 16 bit retro feel. The music was fitting. The storyline was odd and truly would be where the game was held together or fell apart depending on your perspective.

What I mean by that is Anodyne’s storyline while humorous at times, was filled with a lot of issues a person learns to deal with throughout their life. Making the general tone of the story more somber or dark, even though the game never felt like it really hit home on that note. Eventually leading to an end that seemed a tad lackluster with the evolution of the character or lack of character evolution. At least that is how I felt. To be honest, I felt the main character was a fairly one dimensional hero, with a tacked on story that attempted to make more of the character but never really succeeded.

This isn’t to say that the game was bad, but more that the story seemed more like a separate entity from the game itself. While both the game world and story had a disjointed sort of reality going for them, they never really felt like they really came together. The game did feature numerous nods to previous games which were nice little Easter eggs within the game. Not to mention, once the game is beaten there is more to go back and do to completely accomplish everything.

In the end, I did enjoy the game and the humorous moments in the story. I just felt it tried a little too hard to have that deeper meaning. If you like games like the original Legend of Zelda this game is worth checking out, but more for the gameplay than the cohesiveness.

]]>http://www.gamingismagic.com/?feed=rss2&p=15970Euro Truck Simulator 2 Reviewhttp://www.gamingismagic.com/?p=1522
http://www.gamingismagic.com/?p=1522#commentsSat, 23 Mar 2013 16:30:32 +0000http://www.darkstarmatryx.com/?p=1522It’s time to grab your lorry and hit the European roads. I said lorry not loli and definitely not a loli named Lori. You sicko’s it means truck. Euro Truck Simulator 2 by SCS Software; the same devs who brought us 18 Wheels of Steel and other simulators, has gifted us with this for our simulator collection. Is it a gem or more gum on the motorway?

Why should I care about a truck simulator, well read on and you shall see.

Now as far as driving in Europe, well I’ve never done it nor have I driven a Semi either. What I can say is this game is Fun and that was with a capital F. The driving is a blast and while some routes can be long and a little too straight that you are just flying along, others are a really harrowing experience with more turns than any road should rightfully have.

The game offers you more experience, if you park it yourself or you can take the easy route and let them do that once you make it to the destination. So in some ways the difficulty is dependent on you. As you level up you gain new skills that open up more types of deliveries and higher bonuses for completing them. Making that 14 hr in-game drive really does feel like an accomplishment. Just don’t look at how much time it took in real life to make the trip.

The game boasts some neat features, a sleepy driver can cause you to lose control of the vehicle. You need to stop for gas. While the game isn’t extreemly complicated it is a simulator and does throw a lot of things at you. To name some things you can expect; speeding tickets, damage from hitting things, price of tolls, ferries, gas not to mention the need for sleep and one can never ever forget asshole drivers. Excuse my English.

As far as the business end is concerned. You can upgrade your starter garage and buy more trucks and hire more employees to start. You’ll need to take loans or some of this can take a really long time. You can even build garages in other cities as well and expand your empire. With the goal of having a trucking empire all the while you can manage your garage more choosing what traits your drivers will learn when they level up as well.

There are lots of customizations that can be made to the trucks from paint jobs to added lights, better engines down to even the door handle. So you can make your trucking fleet all look pretty as a peach. With multiple companies you can buy from depending on the truck dealers you have found and your current level you can purchase more types of trucks for your fleet.

I will say this, I can’t make more than a couple trips in a row without getting groggy-eyed as fun as this game is it is tiring at times. I don’t mean boring, I mean tiring like any long drive can get. Your watching the road and the next thing your pulling to the side and the guard rails way to close. So I take my break the whole time just wanting to get back in the game and make some more cash and pay off that nasty loan or hire another driver.

The good and bad of it all.

The good
1. so many trucks, routes and types of deliveries.
2. the business, once started runs itself allowing you to enjoy the driving simulator aspect, but also allows for more depth.
3. You level up with experience.
4. It’s got an easily accessible list of European radio stations to listen to while you play. (Not a huge deal, but definitely adds to the feel a lot).
5. It’s moddable. That is always a great feature.

The bad
1. It’s kinda hard to keep track of the speed limit in some areas.
2. The light of other cars at night is horrendous, you can’t see them (luckily there is a mod for this).
3. The AI of other drivers isn’t all there, but hey I am the one hitting the guard rail to squeeze past them in a traffic jam. So who am I to talk about their intelligence.

I give this a 4.5 out of 5. Keep on trucking, with this simulator that can be enjoyed by just about everyone.

]]>http://www.gamingismagic.com/?feed=rss2&p=15220Hellforces Reviewhttp://www.gamingismagic.com/?p=1520
http://www.gamingismagic.com/?p=1520#commentsFri, 22 Mar 2013 16:33:51 +0000http://www.darkstarmatryx.com/?p=1520On to Hellforces developed by Orion and published by GMX Media or BUKA Entertainment (I’ve seen both depending on where you look). OMG, what possesed me to play this? Oh yeah, killing zombies and the forces of hell. Sounded like fun to me, you know that it sounds fun to you as well. Well this FPS took a wrong turn somewhere very important.

That wrong turn lead me to NEVER even completing the first area. So let me tell you why, to save you all the heartache and headache while giving you the chance to laugh at my pain and even my pathetic game playing skills for those of you who did manage to get further. You crazy gluttons for punishment.

So what was right and wrong with this game?

The Right
1. You could change the key map and probably should if you are used to most other FPS’s.
2. Um the graphics, weren’t too bad.
3. The story seemed mildly interesting.
4. Some would say, because it has zombies. If you aren’t already bored to tears by the genre.
5. um.. you can kick boxes around and really high.

The Wrong and oh my was it.
1. The game was glitchy things you killed would fall to the ground you’d bump them and they would get caught in a fence and twitch around. That was a bit amusing but when looking for things coming at you, you certainly don’t need the things you’ve already killed twitching away like you haven’t. You waste ammo that way. Especially when they have managed to float half way up the fence and are now at head level.
2. The keys are slow and unresponsive, now if this was a straight run and gun I’d say screw it this can be dealt with. Check item 4 on this list and you’ll really see why this becomes a test of whether you will throw your keyboard across the room.
3. Just in the first area alone it took me forever to open a gate after I had killed everything in my area AND everything visible on the other side of the gate. Nope you need to find keys hidden among the trash and stuff. But the starter area was small yet it still took forever and a day to find this out.
4. Now they want me to do a platformer-esk jump to a broken balcony. Sounds easy. Should be easy. Would be easy if the controls actually did what you pressed when you press it instead of horrendously lagging. Seriously I can run much more processor intensive games and have never had the keyboard lag like I did in Hellforces. Then add that a spot requires what seemed like a precisely timed jump. This was a painstakingly suicidal experience. (I had already spent hours just getting passed the damn gate). After an hour of failed jumps I stopped and went and made repeated successful jumps over a bunch of saws in Super Meat Boy, just to make sure it wasn’t me.

So, the game story seemed mildly interesting and the first stage had a decent look to it so much so that it peaked my interest long enough to kill hours of time. The butchered game-play made me down right pissed off and mostly at myself for my oh so serious attempt to get further into this game. In the end I ended up torturing myself more than I got to shoot things and it just made me want to scream. I uninstalled this bad boy and hope it never sees the light of my harddrive again.

Save yourself the pain. I wouldn’t let a demon from Hell force me to touch this game again 0.5 out of 5! Yeah, it may be kind of playable, but you really, really shouldn’t.

]]>http://www.gamingismagic.com/?feed=rss2&p=15200Dear Esther, the sort of Reviewhttp://www.gamingismagic.com/?p=1514
http://www.gamingismagic.com/?p=1514#commentsThu, 21 Mar 2013 16:20:00 +0000http://www.darkstarmatryx.com/?p=1514Dear Esther by thechineseroom is really more of an interactive story than a game that started as a mod. It may use a game engine, but all you as the player will do is listen and look at the surroundings as you traverse the terrain to reach the end of the story.

You move at your own pace, exploring the art, story and music of this game. Now I am in no way saying this is a bad thing. It’s a wonderful story and the scenery and music is excellent. If you rush your way through Dear Esther you are really only detracting from your own experience, so take your time and look around.

The issues I see in this game is that you may not get into the story and if you don’t you will quickly feel like you wasted the money you paid to get it. The other element is because it lacks all combat, puzzles or anything like that and it is all about exploration and listening to the story as you walk to the end of this story.

I myself was not disappointed in this game and really didn’t expect the ending and found the story engrossing. I found no flaws in the game or bugs, everything ran smoothly.

I give this a 3 of 5 it is over in about 2 hours and doesn’t really have any reply value, but it might leave you thinking.

]]>http://www.gamingismagic.com/?feed=rss2&p=15140War of the Roses Reviewhttp://www.gamingismagic.com/?p=1555
http://www.gamingismagic.com/?p=1555#commentsWed, 20 Mar 2013 22:40:34 +0000http://www.darkstarmatryx.com/?p=1555War of the Roses is an medieval multiplayer action game by Paradox Interactive. War of the Roses takes place during the battle between Lancaster and York. If you like big battles, close combat fighting games or just multiplayer in general then read on.

As of right now War of the Roses has 3 game modes; your typical Team Death Match, your Conquest Mode and the fun yet dangerous Pitched Battle Mode. A fourth mode titled Assault Castle will be coming out with the Kingmaker update. Team Death Match is your common TDM mode. Conquest is your capture points and hold them as you fight for the next location. Pitched Battle is a bit harder, it is your one life only Team Death Match Mode divided into rounds. Team that wins the most rounds wins. As far as the Assault Castle Mode goes we’ll have to wait till tomorrow (March 21st, 2013) for its release if I have the date right.

The fighting mechanics are a tad confusing at first. With attacks and defending relying heavily on the direction you move your mouse as you press and hold the defense or attack. A wrong direction here can quickly cost you your life or have you banging your sword into a wall. I like this element to the game, the added complexity, while not great, is enough to keep me on my toes. As a result the game lends towards practiced play especially with one’s chosen weapon(s).

As you level up more weapons, perks, armors and fighting styles, metal types and numerous other features from mounts to colors. The perks, weapon and armor will be what makes the most difference to how you play, the fighting styles and metal types, and other little features make small adjustments both positive in some aspects and negative in others allowing for a ton of tweaking to find the set up that fits you best. While it seems at times some weapons are overpowered *couch Longsword cough cough*. There are ways to get around all weapon and armor combinations. I just haven’t figured out the longsword’s weakness, I will though.

All the weapons, armors and everything really is purchased through coins earned on the battlefields, or bought. Although I can say it doesn’t make the game feel unbalanced. I don’t feel it has that pay to win feeling at all. It may take you longer to earn enough to unlock everything (especially if they continue to add more and more weapons and features), but it seems definitely doable. Until then you just need to be more choosy about which upgrades you take to figure out what works best for you. Really it isn’t hard to earn experience and gold though as long as you have a few friends to get a match going with there are always open servers at least every time I’ve been on.

The game currently has two complaints on my part. One Squad leaders have abilities that can help their squad yet rarely are they ever used. I know this isn’t at the fault of the game, but more at the community. The other issue is that I have seen one hack to the game allowing a character to speed around like they had a motor attached to their ass. I was disappointed by this and hope a fix will stop this in the future.

Outside of my issues I look forward to the Kingmaker update can’t wait to see all the stuff it adds to the game as well as how the future controller support plays out. It may make the combat more fluid and a bit less difficult to master, but in the end how will it hold up to the current game speed is a question.

The War of The Roses is a game that brings damn good fun and is a welcome multiplayer game. I hope they keep voice chat out of the game, to often do I feel a good game experience is ruined by obnoxious, rude and insulting other players. Forcing them to type out their ignorant statements and becomes far easier to ignore.

This game easily earns it’s 4 out of bloody 5 and that’s a high score for a multiplayer only game in my books.

]]>http://www.gamingismagic.com/?feed=rss2&p=15550Winter Voices and I’m Frozenhttp://www.gamingismagic.com/?p=1512
http://www.gamingismagic.com/?p=1512#commentsWed, 20 Mar 2013 16:30:21 +0000http://www.darkstarmatryx.com/?p=1512I fell in love with Winter Voices created originally by Beyond the Pillar now owned by Inner Seas. It’s an tactical RPG with a focus on non combat. I know you are probably asking what the hell that meant, well hold your horses and I’ll tell you.

First, what I mean by non-combat is that all the battles aren’t about dealing damage to the enemies. Nope they are about getting to a certain point on the battlefield without collapsing, or surviving a certain amount of turns. Some have a vague clue as to what you are meant to do like lose in a battle that is really easy to survive in. This all may sound confusing, but it really does fit the somber story well.

The story is about grief and the many ways it’s dealt with. As you level up you gain new skills that follow along these paths of grief management. All to better help you deal with the haunting nightmares and terrible memories that you had long since cast aside, but with the tragic event that starts off the game have now come flooding back. All of this makes for an interesting story and interesting game-play.

You even gain experience from the conversations you have as well as completing the “battles”. These conversations can be amusing and annoying depending on what you say and the attitude of the person you talk to.

The 2 aspects many people would probably dislike a great deal about this RPG. First, it is an incredibly somber and slow placed story. Second, there is an incredibly large quantity of what many would call psychobabble on the gambit of emotional turmoil. Now this didn’t bother me for the most part, but there was some points where I thought damn just shut it, I get it I’m sad and feel worthless.

Although this didn’t detour me, I was still heavily into it. Then things started getting bad. I am not really sure what chapter I was in because well the game has some bugs. One I found pretty early on. After I finished a chapter, no achievement was given to mark it. So I sort of lost track of where I was in the game. Other bugs caused me to reload battles because of the rare crash. It all came to a end though when crossing the frozen mountains my game froze. When I reloaded my save it froze again at the same point. Over and over I couldn’t get past that point and well I was not about to start from scratch so while I could never get to the last released chapter.

This is all really sad, becuase until this series of freezes drove me mad, I was more than ready to buy the last chapter whenever it would be released. I even had recommended it in the past. Prior to running into these bugs.

Now I’m incredibly conflicted, I have to rate this a 1 out of 5 simply because the bugs render the game unplayable via certain paths. I do know others have gotten past where I got stuck, but even if you never experience these issues the game is so very unique that I could only recommend it to the person who would like a wordy depressing TRPG.